A Wisconsin judge is threatening to halt court proceedings in protest of federal authorities’ arrest of state colleague Judge Hannah Dugan last week, according to reports.
Judge Monica Isham made it clear in an email to judges statewide on Saturday, titled “Guidance Requested or I Refuse to Hold Court,” that she has no intention of cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County. I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harm’s way,” Isham wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by Wisconsin Right Now.
“I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process, as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support require. Should I start raising bail money?” Isham added while referencing the Wisconsin state constitution as well.
It should be noted that, according to the Trump administration, people being detained and deported have already had their “due process” via an immigration judge. Border czar Tom Homan has said these are individuals who have received deportation orders.
“If this costs me my job or gets me arrested then at least I know I did the right thing,” Isham added.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, responded to Isham’s ultimatum on social media, calling the threat “problematic,” according to Fox News.
Dugan was arrested Friday and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding after evidence showed she had shielded the migrant from ICE agents, according to a criminal complaint. She also faces a charge of concealing an individual to prevent their discovery and arrest, Fox noted.
Federal agents from ICE, the FBI, CBP, and the DEA attempted to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national illegally in the U.S., following his April 18 court appearance before Dugan on three misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly assaulting two people.
Dugan ordered officers to go to the chief judge’s office and, after the hearing ended, escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out through a restricted jury door—bypassing the public area where agents were waiting—to help him evade arrest, according to the complaint, Fox said.
Dugan previously worked with legal aid organizations and served as executive director of Catholic Charities. Elected in 2016 to Branch 31 of the Circuit Court, she ran unopposed in 2022. She primarily handles misdemeanor cases, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In New Mexico, now-former Judge Joel Cano and his wife were also arrested for harboring an illegal alien suspected of belonging to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Arugua gang, which Trump has designated a terrorist organization along with another gang, MS-13, charging him with harboring an illegal alien gang member and providing him with firearms.
Meanwhile, Homan said during an interview over the weekend following the arrest of two judges accused of aiding, abetting, and harboring illegal immigrants, that it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
In a statement on social media, Homan said that jurists aren’t above the law, no matter what they may think of it.
“Nobody should be surprised by the arrest of two judges. I have said many times within the past few months, that people can choose to support illegal immigration and not assist ICE in removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities, BUT DON’T CROSS THAT LINE,” he said on X.